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How-To Geek

Evernote 4 for Windows is finally here, bringing with it a much needed UI refresh and an amazing speed boost. Let’s look at how Evernote has improved and now makes it easier than ever to save all of your memories.

Evernote is one of the best note programs available, and makes it easy to keep everything you come across synced between your desktop, mobile devices, and the cloud. Unfortunately, though, the Evernote program for Windows was slow, clunky, and ugly. The more notes you added, the slower it ran. Plus, it didn’t feel very integrated with the latest Windows features.

Today, however, that’s all changed. Evernote realized their desktop version was a mess, so they fully rewrote it from the ground up to create a modern, fast note program for Windows. The latest version, Evernote 4, was just released, and brings with it a new, modern UI, amazingly fast performance, and lower system resource usage.

Installing Evernote 4

If you haven’t already done so, head to the link below and download Evernote 4. If you already have an older version of Evernote installed, you’ll be prompted that the old version will be removed and your computer may reboot. In our installs, we didn’t have to reboot, but you may have to, depending on your setup. Click Ok to continue.

Now just continue with setup as before. Evernote 4 installed much quicker than older versions, and only required one UAC prompt unlike older versions.

Once the installation is finished, you can go ahead and start using Evernote 4. Accept the user agreement when you first run it.

Then you’ll need to enter your account info again, or if you’re just getting started with Evernote, create a new account. Check Stay signed in if you don’t want to have to re-enter your account info every time you use Evernote.

Moments later, you’ll see all of your notes in the new Evernote 4. If you had an older version of Evernote already installed, it will import the notes you’d already synced; otherwise, it may take a few minutes to download all of your notes.

Exploring Evernote 4

The first thing you’ll notice is how fast Evernote loads. The new version loads almost instantly in our tests. Browsing through your notes or searching for an older note is almost instant, whereas it was almost painful in the older version.

Evernote sports a brand new interface as well, including a redesigned modern toolbar that makes it easy to create a new note or change your settings. It also takes up much less vertical space, which is great on widescreens and small netbooks.

Notes are now easy to browse with high quality thumbnails. Whether you’ve got images, full website clips, or just a list of things you need to buy, Evernote will turn your note into a nice thumbnail that makes it easier to identify.

Or you can switch to list mode, or mixed mode, which gives you more info about the notes along with a thumbnail.

Want to reorder your notes? Evernote makes it easy to sort your notes just as you like.

On the sidebar, the tags list is condensed by default, but once you open it, it’s quick and easy to find the notes you need by tag. No waiting for your notes to load; even notes with attachments and graphics load quickly now. Plus you’ll be able to quickly tell what’s in your notes with the high quality thumbnails.

It’s even easier to browse PDF file sin notes than before

Editing and creating new notes is now quicker and easier than before, and Evernote supports tables, lists, and pasting from popular applications much better than before.

Windows 7 Integration

Evernote now works much better with Windows 7 and other applications you use. It includes a nice jumplist to make it easy to create new notes from content on your clipboard or sync your notes in one click.

If digital notes aren’t enough, Evernote 4 also includes fully revamped printing support, and lets you include tags, location data, and more in your printouts. If you wanted to move your Evernote notes to OneNote or another program, this works much better than before for that as well.

Clipping content from Outlook, Internet Explorer, and Firefox is now also much more robust, and you don’t even have to launch the full Evernote program to save your notes.

You’ll just see a nice Evernote popup from your system tray letting you know that you note has been saved. Quick and easy.

We’re excited to be using the new Evernote, and hope this is only the start of a new trend for Evernote. It’s a great service, and now that it runs so nicely on Windows, we’ll be using it more than ever. Between the Chrome web clipper and Evernote mobile apps, it’s one of the best ways to save everything you come across so you can easily find it later. Be sure to download the latest version or install the update when it’s automatically available, and let us know what you think about Evernote 4!